Activity recognition apparatus, method and program

Abstract

There is provided an activity recognition apparatus for detecting an activity of a subject. The apparatus includes: a sensor unit including a plurality of linear motion sensors configured to detect linear motions and a plurality of rotational motion sensors, the linear motions being orthogonal to each other, the rotational motions being orthogonal to each other; and a computational unit configured to receive and process signals from the sensors included in the sensor unit so as to detect an activity of the subject. The sensor unit is directly or indirectly supported by the subject with an arbitrary orientation with respect to the subject. The computational unit performs a calculation that uses the signals from both linear motion sensors and rotational motion sensors to determine the activity of the subject independent of the orientation of the sensor unit.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to an apparatus, method, program and storage medium for activity recognition. More specifically, the present invention relates to an activity recognition apparatus, an activity recognition method, a program to cause a computer to perform such a method, a storage medium or memory storing such a program, and a signal coded to cause a computer to perform such a method.[0003]2. Description of Related Art[0004]Human activity classification has been attempted with cameras, microphones (Non-patent Document 5), inertial sensors (Non-patent Document 4), and goniometers. For each sensor or combination of sensors, researchers have also developed custom algorithms that to varying degrees can classify activity. Since one part of human activity classification is obtaining accurate measurements of human motion, the technology used overlaps with methods used for character animation, kinesiology and biomech...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text describes an activity recognition system that uses inertial sensors to detect a person's movements and determine their activity. The system is designed to be flexible and can recognize activities even when the sensors are not positioned in a specific way. This is achieved by detecting the movement of the person's entire body and associating it with a corresponding activity. The system does not require any preconditions on the orientation of the sensors and can be used in a variety of applications.

Problems solved by technology

However, obtaining accurate motion measurements with inertial sensors has historically proven to be quite difficult due to the sensitivity these sensors have to shock, temperature, electrical noise and so on.

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